Tara Jo (TJ) Holmberg

Tara Jo (TJ) is a passionate teacher and designer of online and on-ground life, environmental, and Earth science courses, where she incorporates inquiry-based learning, service learning, community science, and real-world data to make science relevant to her students and reignite their curiosity and wonder about science and the natural world. 
 
Her decades of experience in higher education and years as a professional development provider — many as a BioInteractive Ambassador — inform her work to design impactful professional learning for two- and four-year college educators. Beyond the natural sciences, she has mentored other educators in technology-supported instruction, inclusive teaching, and culturally relevant pedagogy. TJ is a published biology education research scholar. She has master's degrees in marine science, curriculum and instruction, and interdisciplinary environmental studies, as well as a PhD in environmental studies from Antioch University New England, where she focused on the effects of slow toxicological violence on communities.